First Draft of Mate Finished

I’m nowhere near ready to publish, but last Sunday I wrote THE END under the final scene of the final chapter of Book VII of Dark Tales of Randamor the Recluse, The Invisible Hands – Part 4: Mate.

I started writing Mate on December 23th, 2013, and on August 17th, 2014 the first draft of Mate was finished.

Mate is the longest book of the series. The first draft weighs in at more than 179,000 words, but I’m sure, after revision, I can shorten that to around 185,000 words. The whole quadrilogy is more than 654,000 words long. The whole series more than 1,062,000 words.

What Can You Expect?

Mate opens, at the request of Verial of the Lakes, with a continuation of the events in Naodyma. After the conquest by Rhonoma, for the Naodymans, among which Thenoclon, the world seems to have gone mad.

Anaxantis tries to navigate his small army between armed forces much larger than his, weighing the military chances against the rapidly changing political situation. The Rhonoman Commander-General Hirmon Marradar, on the other hand, keeps his eyes on the prize: the conquest of Tyleme. But, under its shining marble exterior, the mighty capital of Lorsanthia hides a world of horror.

Meanwhile the Mahpodah rears its ugly head in the Highlands of Great Renuvia. Ehandar tries to be a good temporary replacement for the warlord, and to finish the southern defensive wall. Gradually becoming aware that the threat of the rebellion is real, he tries, with the help of Tomar, to stem the tide, although he doubts he is up to the task. What he doesn’t know is that a few of his squires are involved, and some of them want both him and his brother dead. Then the plotting lords of the Mahpodah threaten Anaxantis’s life directly…

A Few Highlights.

After years, Anaxantis meets his father again and Ehandar has a confrontation with Queen Emelasuntha. The brothers meet again under rather dramatic circumstances. A few strange turns of events, some dating from the very first book of the series, are explained.

After Mate…

With Mate, the fourth part, the quadrilogy The Invisible Hands is complete. Is it also the end of Randamor’s Dark Tales?
For the near future it is, but in the final chapter Anaxantis is preparing his next move and he takes a decision that could have far reaching consequences. So…

But all that is for the future. The series has over three hundred and forty characters. Granted, some of them are Gods and Goddesses, some are kings long since dead, and some are animals. Still, a lot of them wandered into the main story line and left it again at a given point. There are still a lot of stories to tell. I plan to write them, but they will be shorter stories, or novellas, and, the occasional novel.

However, I’m sure one day I will return to the two brothers.

Ah, before I forget… I hope you will appreciate that revising such a long novel will take some time, but I hope to have Mate ready for publication by the second half of October.

Like I said above it is difficult to give you a definitive date of release for the moment.

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12 Responses to First Draft of Mate Finished

Bravo. What an accomplishment. I got chills reading this. I’m sure not to be the only one looking forward to Mate’s release. I have no doubt it will be as exciting, entertaining and wonderfully written as the rest of the Randamor Tales.

I can’t wait. This is the single most grand odyssey of a story I’ve ever read. Not to mention the emotional connection I feel to some of these characters. You are the best m/m fantasy writer of our time, and your dedication to the world of this story is truly admirable and rare. Thank you for this gift. Now if only I could figure out how you pronounce Merw. Or Ehander for that matter